Chapter Text
It was late. Very late.
What would have been a usually great night, full of blissful sleep under the endless sea of sparkling stars, was instead spent tossing and turning in attempt to fall asleep to no avail. Kirby was usually out like a light, but this particular night he found himself struggling to drift away; not even his milky-white pillow blessed with the softest feathers as filling was enough to relax him into slumber. His fleecy blue blanket adorned with stars -gifted to him by an anonymous gifter when he first landed in Dreamland- usually felt like having a warm cloud encompass him, it lifted away all worries and brought comfort to him even at his most anxious. Even his comfort item of choice felt like a crushing weight on his tiny body right now; he aggressively kicked the sheet off of himself, the cloth scrunching up onto the half of the bed not occupied by the pink puffball.
Kirby scrunched his eyelids together to try and force himself to sleep, but as he did so an image unfamiliar to him plagued his mindscape, forcefully flashing into his mind to bring about something so unknown to him.
Everything was so….fuzzy…blurry? Kirby couldn’t exactly tell what was happening. He seemed to be laid on his side, though in what he couldn’t tell. The details of the room were faded out, the only focus being on two dark blobs that seemed to be looking in his direction.
“H-s p-rf-t… I c-t b-l-ve… h-s ou-s.”
“S- sm-l…b-rly th- s-ze o- -n ap-le, I c-ld h-ld h-m in -y h-nd…”
“He -ll gr-w u- to b- str-g, ju- li- hi- p-a..”
“A- h-‘ll h-v th- h-rt o- hi m-thr I’- su-… ou- l-tle st-r.”
The blobs spoke out, but what they said was stutters of speech broken up into incomprehensible bites. One of the voices sounded very familiar, Kirby couldn’t quite put his paw on it though, just who were these blobs meant to be? Speaking of which, the blobs then melded together, moving towards his position.
“H-s w-k- u-! I-s oka- my l-tle o-…”
Darkness consumed his vision as the blobs encompassed his view. Light flashed and his eyes bolted open.
What just happened?
Kirby tried to shake it off, turning to his side in an unsuccessful attempt to get comfortable. He closed his eyes again with false hope that he’d actually fall asleep this time.
Again, his mind flashed with scenes he’d never experienced before…right?
He was strapped into a table, some sort of…mushy paste… was presented on a plate in front of him. Those same voices could be heard again.
“H- -n’t ea- i-, -m t-g yo- n-.”
“-e d-’t kn- th-t, giv- -im a cha- to d- it h-elf.”
“Y-re -ing to ha- to fe- -im i-, M-ta.”
“-m no- pu-ing th- -ush -n -y mou- t- d- -o.”
“An- -u ex-ct th- -by -o ea- i- -f y- -n’t?”
He turned around in bed. Again visions bombarded the dark, blank canvas that was his line of sight.
More colour was beamed into his mindscape, everything was still fuzzy, but somewhat clearer than his first two visions. What seemed to be squares of cloth resembling cushions surrounded him, blurred shapes of all colours and sizes lay near his sides… he held a pale blue rabbit-looking creature tightly in his little nubs, and another was with him; their silver hair was wild, untamed and sprouting off in a multitude of directions, contained around their head by a green band…they were familiar…the figure vaguely resembled… Knuckle Joe…?
A flash, and the vision vanished from his mind as he tossed and turned once more. Again, another flash.
He was being held by something- someone. Another figure who felt oh so familiar, cloaked in a shadow obstructing their visage from him, was rocking and cradling him, sweet melodic humming soothed and lulled Kirby into a sense of security, he felt himself drifting off in the vision, his view softly fading to darkness.
With a small whine due to still being awake, his eyes fluttered open. That vision was different, gentler than the previous flashes; it was sweeter, warm like the loving embrace he was just in.
I just want to sleep, why can’t I sleep? What are these things that I keep seeing?
Kirby turned around to re-fluff up his pillow that had been squished down from his previous attempts of slumber. Maybe this time it would work out? After adequately fluffing it up, Kirby dived down back onto the pillow to hopefully close his eyes for the last time until morning. There was nothing, just the void of closing his eyes…until once again another flash brightened up the abyss of his mind:
Warmth, not that of a bright sunny day, but the uncomfortable, sweltering warmth of a danger approaching- fire! He opened his eyes to blurs of orange and red consuming his vision, flames devoured the empty-feeling room he was laying in, the vision not focussing on anything but the fire around him. Screams and yells were flooding his ears, the crackling and crumbling of the walls and ceilings collapsing around him. A door slammed open, revealing a shadowed figure that blended into the blurs of the fire around him. The figure darted towards him with the speed of lightning, pulling him a tight, but protective hold, as if the figure was shielding him from the ferocious flicks of fire with their own body.
“D-n i-, y-‘-l p-y f- -is, Nightmare!” The figure growled, rage and fury dripping even with their voice distorted how it was. It was all too familiar, yet Kirby couldn’t place the voice to anyone he knew. It was the same voice that appeared in the first vision, though the vicious hissing was a complete contrast to the gentle sweetness of their voice Kirby had heard previously. The beginning of their sentence was shrouded by the dissonance of the chaotic vision, but the ending was clear enough for Kirby to interpret.
Nightmare…
“-IRBY! -s he br-th-ng?” Another voice, the same as the other voice that was in his first vision. They must have entered the room, but he couldn’t see anything from the hold he was in, pressed snuggly against the first figure’s chest. It was warm, similar to when he was held by…he lost his track of thought when the figures chest rumbled as they began to speak once more.
“Ye-, w- need -o -ve, now- o- -e will -urn to d-th!”
“L-t’s -o, ’m righ- -hind ou-”
A scream, so sudden and ear shattering to Kirby, pierced his very being-
Kirby shot up, sitting up straight in his bed, panting heavily as if having woken from a nightmare, only it wasn’t a nightmare…right? Kirby didn’t know exactly what it was, but he had a small inkling on who would be best to ask about it.
Maybe Meta Knight will know what is happening, he usually does.
With minimal effort he slid off his bed, grabbing a small star-shaped cushion from his nest of comfort to bring with him; he didn’t even bother to make his bed before tumbling out of the door in a hurry. Mint-green nightcap still adorned, Kirby made haste towards the archaic castle on the hill in search of his beloved mentor.
His feet pitter-pattered down the long, twisting dirt paths that lead to the towering castle, lit by nothing but the glow of the stars that shimmered and sparkled in the abyssal night above him. It was a fairly short trip usually, but a busy day beforehand had left Kirby drained and so he was more sluggish than usual without the energy to back his movement. It took him over double of the time it would usually take him to get to the castle, the pink puffball completely loosing track of what he was meant to be doing other than his one-track mind telling him ‘go see Meta Knight’.
Eventually he trotted his way up to the top of the large hill the castle had been built upon, dragging himself and his pillow across the castle’s drawbridge and into the maze of halls that made up the stronghold. He had the route to the knights’ quarters memorised after months of walking to and from the apartment with Meta Knight and his companions, so getting there was a piece of cake even with how exhausted he was currently. Several waddle dees were out and about, crossing paths with the pink puffball as he made his own way around; a few waddle dees stopped to greet Kirby with a nod or wave, whilst others ignored the baby warrior completely to go about their given duties.
Soon enough he was at the door of the knights’ quarters.
The wooden door towered over Kirby’s small form in an intimidating manner, causing nerves to well up within the baby warrior; despite being a regular visitor to the knightly abode for some time now, he still felt some unease at knocking on the door in case he ended up bothering the old knight in his very little down time. With some reluctance, he repeatedly tapped his nub against the hard wood, hopefully alerting anyone to his presence should they be home currently. The soft shuffling of someone’s steps grew closer and closer to Kirby’s position until stopping on the other side of the door. In a swift motion the door swung open, revealing the elder warrior Kirby was hoping to see. Even in his tired state, he found himself flashing a little smile at the appearance of his mentor, happy to see him no matter the situation.
Meta Knight gazed down upon his young charge at his doorstep, “Kirby? What are you doing up at this hour, it’s past midnight- did you travel all the way from your home? You still have your nightcap on.”
What was he doing up at this hour again? With his focus entirely on getting to Meta Knight’s home, he had completely forgotten why he wanted to talk with him in the first place…He couldn’t sleep, but was that really all? Kirby took a few seconds to rummage around in his mind, trying to remember why he wanted to come here to no avail. With a frustrated whine, he defaulted his answer to what he definitely knew was the problem.
“Cawn’t sweep,”
“Is that so? Well, it looks like coming here has tired you out enough, you look ready to pass out at any moment, star... I was just winding down and about to retire for the night myself, care to join me?” The blue knight spoke tenderly, his voice held a rare softness that was reserved for Kirby and Kirby alone.
He knew what the baby’s response would be already; without waiting he ushered him inside, having to guide Kirby in his drowsy state through the doorway via a gentle, supporting hand on his back. After moving Kirby through the doorway and into the entrance to his living quarters, Meta Knight used his free hand to close and lock the door behind them. Safely behind closed doors, Kirby allowed himself to nuzzle ever so slightly into his mentor’s right side, a comfort the knight reciprocated by slipping his right arm around the baby warrior’s body to pull him into a side hug, gently squeezing to return the act of affection.
“Alright, let’s get you to bed,” Meta Knight spoke with barely a whisper.
Taking the lead, he guided them both over to his own bedroom. He was fortunate to have balcony room, so two sets of doors led to exits from the knight’s chambers- the door they had just entered from the main room, as well as a set of double doors that led out to a quaint balcony space. The room itself was laid out in a usual manner; a fairly large double bed for the size Meta Knight was, was pressed up against the back wall of the room, raised on a small platform. The bedframe was crafted from a fine, dark walnut wood; carved into the headboard were intricate patterns and swirls that flowed towards a star near the top of the board, placed central to create a symmetrical pattern. The soft duvet was a dark blue hue, scarcely decorated with silver crescent moons and various sizes of stars across the sheet of cloth, forming a night sky that Meta Knight slept under. Several rounded pillows adorned the top of the bed, where they would eventually lay their heads in rest. Sandwiching the bed were two matching walnut bedside tables- the right side had nothing on it but a small inactive table lamp, but on the left side table was a matching lamp that illuminated the room in absence of the ceiling light, as well as a half-full glass of water. Against the footboard of the bed but off of the platform was a small, yet elegant sofa, an adequate reading spot for the Knight to get comfortable with a good book.
A few sideboards, as well as a large desk between two towering bookshelves, had been placed against various walls of the room as well, also crafted from walnut to match the bed furniture of course. They were decorated with various trinkets of different shapes and sizes. Many photo frames were hung on the dark-brick walls; a few frames had some of Meta Knight’s old war friends, though a particularly treasured photo, a golden frame decorated with engraved swirls, was hung perfectly in line with the bed. Within it was a lightly creased, crude drawing made by Kirby himself- a blue scribble representing Meta Knight was holding the hand of a smaller pink scribble representing Kirby. The tot had given it to him as a gift, and so he had acted accordingly in preserving the drawing immaculately. To the left of the bed was Meta Knight’s main desk, littered with a myriad of writing equipment and documents. A pristine writing quill (kept tidy due to meticulous upkeep) was placed very intricately next to the pot of ink used to write with it- the feather that crafted the quill was of a soft, lavender hue. A worn journal sat in the very middle of the desk, splayed open to the world. Kirby recognised it as the book Meta Knight frequently brought around with him, pulling it from his cloak to write in occasionally when something happened. Presumably it was full of notes, ready to relay for quick documentation for the multitude of incident reports that the knight was required to fill out whenever something of substance occurred in Dreamland. A particularly large jar, filled with perfect little circles of many different vibrant colours, was placed further back on the desk. It caught Kirby’s eyes like how a moth is lured to a flame, but before he could fully comprehend the presence of the sweet jar Meta Knight ushered him forward, towards the bed and away from the desk (and his treasured sweets that Kirby would gobble down in an instant given the chance no matter how tired he was).
As the duo reached the large bed, Meta Knight smoothly scooped Kirby up as he walked, placing him on the soft duvet to allow the baby warrior to make himself comfortable. Kirby plopped himself down directly in the middle of the bed, scrambling the pull up the duvet so he could wiggle his way underneath it. Having broken into the bed like a secret agent breaking into a highly protected facility, the tot grabbed the star pillow he had since abandoned in order to pull up the duvet and sandwiched it in between the two circular pillows. Like a mini tsunami he crashed down onto the cushion, splatting his whole body out to securely squish the cushion down.
Purposefully ignorant to Kirby’s antics, Meta Knight readied himself for bed as well, continuing from what he had left off before he had invited the baby puffball inside. He swiftly removed his mask and armour, placing them at the side of the bed in an easily accessible place should he need to re-adorn the armour in an emergency. Silky, navy fabric rose upwards, the cloth of Meta Knight’s cloak shifting to the sapphire of his skin that formed the fingers and webbing of large, draconic wings. He splayed out his wings, knowing all too well that Kirby was enamoured by them, to put on a magnificent display for the tot to revel in. It was also nice to give them a bit of a stretch after being forced into ‘cape mode’ all day; he lightly flapped them a couple of times, indulging in the brief movement of cool air being displaced against the webbing of his wings, before allowing them to lay naturally behind his back.
He turned back to Kirby with a smile, noting how despite being exhausted, he was watching him with glee, and sitting up in wait for the knight to join him. Typical, sweet Kirby.
Manoeuvring over to the side of the bed, he pulled the corner of the duvet up in vigour to climb in and get comfortable, ready for a good night’s rest after a surprisingly intense day of patrol; with the defeat of Nightmare, Meta Knight had begun expanding patrol routes beyond Dreamland’s borders to execute extra precaution for any rouge demon beasts roaming around aimlessly with no master to take command from, so his routes had slowly been growing longer and more laborious over time as he continued to expand outwards of Dreamland.
Meta Knight wasn’t one to be obsessed with needing luxuries- he’d gotten so used to sitting or sleeping wherever was safest, even if that was in a tight, dimly lit cave or in a lanky tree with the roughest of bark as armour, but he had to admit that he put lots of effort into creating a perfect resting place with his home bed. Top quality feathers, fabrics and cottons had gone into the crafting of his pillows, duvet and mattress, lovingly compiled together to produce the ideal sleeping arrangements. The comfort of his bed could be compared to laying within the fluffiest of clouds in Dreamland, Meta Knight believed it was likely even better.
Moving into the left spot on the bed, Meta Knight allowed himself to relax. He nestled next to Kirby’s side, reclining back onto his pillow.
“Sleep well, Kirby.” He spoke gently, leaning over to turn off the table lamp, moving back to his original position to lay still within the shadowy darkness to rest.
Eyelids betrayed him, forcing Kirby down into a presumed slumber. Closing his eyes had just reminded him why he had went to the knight in the first place, but his reaction was too delayed, a white flash overtaking his mind before he had time to yell for his mentor.
“-m sorry-“
That voice, the one who had held him in the fire, was speaking again. No other voice piped up, it seems they were alone this time.
Kirby looked around, taking in his surroundings, the filter of fuzz in his mind having lightened significantly in comparison to the other visions he had seen before. He was enclosed by machinery, the quiet whirring and clicks of buttons and consoles circled him, all of the tech was held together in cobalt-blue metal. A rim of glass curved around him, ready to click together and encapsulate the pink puffball at any moment. Kirby sat in a small, teal seat, it was easy to sit in- velvety soft… easy to fall asleep in... this was his starship!
The figure, still hidden by shadow, moved their hand forward, cupping the side of Kirby’s face in their palm. They gingerly rubbed his cheek, so gentle, so delicate and loving, though the affectionate gesture felt so melancholy, so…final. Kirby felt how the figure reluctantly pulled away their hand, the glass dome closing around him as if on cue. A hand, the hand that had caressed his cheek, pressed against the glass as if pleading for him to stay. Kirby didn’t know what was happening, but he felt the sadness of the hand that protested his departure, though it was not long to be; the added protection of golden metal casing closed over the glass dome, sealing Kirby off from the rest of the world, from the mysterious figure, from the warm affection of their hand tenderly holding his cheek as a last ditch effort of holding onto him.
A force slammed into him- his ship blasting off from the ground; it forcefully shook and rustled him around mercilessly, forcing his eyes closed due the immense force on his small body.
Kirby heard the figure call out from beyond the metal and glass that separated them, the solid matter failing to muffle their voice at all.
“I hope we can meet again, my little star.”
Their voice clear as day- Kirby could finally understand it, the reason the voice was so familiar. It was-
“…Meda Kni?”
“Is something wrong, little one?”
“eweiah, see…dweam? …Dunno, vison? Kaabii stahship…Meda Kni pu’ Kaabii… stahship?” Pausing, Kirby then remembered the previous vision he had seen as well, “and...FIRE! poyo-“ Kirby attempted to gesture something with his nubs, but even with his superior ‘Kirby interpretation’ skills, Meta Knight couldn’t fully comprehend what the baby was trying to say in his sleep deprived state.
“I’m afraid I don’t quite understand- you had a dream? In it was a vision of your starship with me and fire… Just sounds a bad dream.” He scooched closer to the tot, pulling Kirby into a tight embrace, “it’s okay Kirby, I’m here now, here to keep all of the bad dreams away…”
He wanted to protest more, to try and make the knight understand what he was trying to convey, but quickly Kirby fell victim to the large, protective arms that trapped him within their caring grasp. The baby couldn’t stop himself from leaning into the embrace, into Meta Knight’s side; his body warm and comforting, his deep breathing lulling him into slumber despite all the odds…
But again, a white flash took Kirby into an unknown dream/vision/memory, he grimaced instinctively at the light forming in his mind once more.
Warmth. A luxurious bed, just like the one he had just gotten so comfortable in. Those same loving arms wrapped around him, the same voice speaking the exact same sentence, almost.
“It’s okay my little cub, Papa’s here now, here to keep all of the bad dreams away…”
The visions had been fuzzy and hard to understand when Kirby had been by himself, but the two most recent ones were almost clear as day, when he was close to Meta Knight. He felt so much smaller in all of these visions, and being in his starship within the vision too got cogs turning in his head…were these actually memories? If they were memories, then that meant…
“Papa?”
Kirby wanted to test his thesis.
“Excuse me?!” The knight, certainly unready for such a sentence to occur right now, almost choked out. Bewildered at the sudden mention of the ‘p-word’, he fell into a state of shock, pulling away from the tot. Kirby saying such a thing towards him had re-energised Meta Knight; any tiredness had been stripped away from him like pulling bark from a tree.
“Visons…think awe Kaabii memowies! Meda Kni say is papa…Meda Kni Kaabii’s papa?”
“Memories? Wait-!“
It was all starting to make sense now.
Ignoring the latter part of that statement - he needed to process it all first - for now, the knight looked to his hands, faintly counting on his fingers and quietly humming to the count of each finger. Returning his attention to Kirby, who in his curiosity had tilted his head to resemble a confused puppy (so cute!), Meta Knight spoke out, “Being in hyper-sleep within your starship for so long is what caused you to lose any memories before arriving here in Dreamland. If you say you are seeing visions, perhaps…your memories are beginning to return to you already.” He spoke fairly calmly to begin with, but slight panic began to rise in his chest as he went on. “I knew that memory loss can remain for an extended period depending on the environment one finds themselves in once waking up. After being forced into conflict with Nightmare so young…I didn’t expect you to recover them so quickly, its only been a year and a half since you won against him…I expected it to be years before this would happen!”
Meta Knight was whisper-yelling at himself, worried, no, terrified for the reaction to come from the tot, scared that he would be forever distrustful of the knight for withholding such information from him of his origins. He had planned to tell Kirby of course, but it was something he needed to be mentally prepared for himself. He thought he had time to do that, to formulate the most ideal method to disclose their origins to the baby puffball. He didn’t expect all of this to be thrust upon him so suddenly. Surviving after the war, after everything, meant he had to put that part of him aside to focus on vanquishing Nightmare once and for all…for peace.
They were in peace now though.
Meta Knight knew that, but the constant state of war had caused bad habits to linger, he supposed. Having gotten so used to staying strong and stoic, almost emotionless, being required to be a pillar of hope for the GSA even after their defeat, it had left him out of touch with his own personal life outside of being a warrior, and how to go about reintroducing the family he had kept away for their own safety. Now all of the emotions buried deep within him, the problems he needed to overcome that he assured himself could be dealt with at a later date, had finally overrun the glass cup. A tidal wave of terror had hit him all at once, and something that was a rare occurrence in his life had risen; he didn’t know what to do now, it was a conflict he didn’t know how to fight head on. It was so much more than that.
The blue knight was spiralling, eternally afraid of disappointing Kirby, unbeknownst to the tot of course. All Kirby processed was that the knight looked distressed, despite not knowing why. He wanted to help.
Kirby took initiative.
“Papa.” He squeaked, nuzzling into Meta Knight’s side to pull the knight out of his own mind. It worked straight away, drawing Meta Knight’s golden eyes to him, making contact with his own sapphire-blue ones, full of serenity and adoration as he looked back towards his cherished mentor who he now knew to be his father. Kirby stared at him with a joyful smile, with the very warmth of the sun emanating from him as he did so, before nuzzling back into his side once more; it was his way of saying it was all going to be okay.
The vast majority of his stress melted away at the warmth radiating from his cub; the warmth managed to thaw the hard, cold ice prison he had self-imposed around himself for the longest time, which he never released until now had already begun to thaw him out on the very day that Kirby landed on the planet.
Meta Knight returned the sentiment, beaming with relief as he steadied himself with a deep breath. His arms encased Kirby again, pulling him close so their foreheads touched.
“Yes, I am.” Meta Knight’s voice was soft, but brimming with pride and joy. He found himself emotional again, but focussed how he felt into doting on his son- the very start into years of making up for the time he had to spend forced away from Kirby.
Time ceased as the two indulged in the presence of the other. Delighted purrs reverberated from both father and son, accompanied by nonstop nuzzles and cuddling, as well as occasional gentle kisses that found their way onto Kirby’s forehead. In that moment, Meta Knight wanted to provide as much affection as he physically could to his cub. Finally he allowed himself to not hold back anymore, doting on Kirby the way a parent should be able to dote on their child. He had been a little affectionate with the baby warrior before occasionally, but the looming danger of that being seen by Dedede would have endangered them both if he were to accidentally alert Nightmare to a growing bond between them; it was too much of a risk at the time. Now that risk was gone, however, Nightmare was no more. They never had to worry about him again.
Although happy to hold his son like this once more, he still felt a twinge of guilt at his heart – Kirby at least deserved an explanation.
Meta Knight pulled away, shifting Kirby so he could cradle him in his right arm while looking down upon him. “I wish I could have let you know sooner, I’m sorry I couldn’t,” Meta Knight began. “It was too dangerous with Nightmare still around- he would have been relentless in attacking you had he known we were working together too early. You saw what happened when they learnt of the Halberd, Nightmare sent several Destroyah here for such a small land mass, usually those weapons were used to destroy entire planets – he knew how dangerous we would be together... I had to feign being on the side of the king to keep suspicion away from this land until we could launch our own attack. I hope you understand.” He used his left thumb to caress Kirby’s rosy, pink cheek, to which the baby leaned into the loving touch of his father.
“I like to think I helped you when I could though, even discretely under the king’s own nose.” The knight lightly chuckled, rocking Kirby slightly, who was being held against him, with the rumble of his chest.
Kirby giggled in agreement, nuzzling back into Meta Knight’s chest with drooping eyelids that alarmed the knight that it really was time to sleep now. With Kirby now so comfortable and safe in his arms, he refused to move. Who was he to disturb his poor cub who needed to rest? With minimal movement, Meta Knight leaned as far back as he could in order to get settled himself, though there was one more thing bugging him…
“One last thing. For now…please keep this between us, little star. I am still unsure of how the king may react if word got out about this as of right now. I could end up being evicted- uh, kicked out of the castle so to speak. I have other arrangements in the works currently but they’re not quite ready yet. Okay?”
“No tell Fumu?” Kirby’s eyes opened once more, pleading with him.
“Not even Fumu, for now at least. I’m sorry little one, but it’s for the best. One day you will be able to tell her, for now we need to take things slow. I’m sure you will have more questions in time too, but for the time being I believe it is way past your bedtime now. Time to rest my little star.”
Hopefully what had just transpired will have eased Kirby’s memory flashes -whatever they were- for a while now. It sounded like they were brought on by real life stimuli, and if one of those happened to be Meta Knight, then this confrontation should have eased that part of his memories flaring up, meaning the child would finally be able to sleep peacefully for the night.
It wouldn’t be hard to coax Kirby to sleep, but regardless Meta Knight started gently humming and caressing his cheek once more.
I did this a lot to help you sleep when you were a newborn…I was unsure I’d ever get to do this again.
A very tiny yawn escaped from his mouth as Kirby sleepily mumbled, “go’ni papa…” Leaning into the safety of his father, he calmly drifted off into slumber; out like a light.
“Good night my little one.” He did not dare to wake his cub up.
Meta Knight planned to go to sleep now as well, but remained awake momentarily to give himself a small bit of time to process…everything.
He had his son back.
Well, officially as his son now. Meta Knight was ecstatic, overjoyed, delighted. A permanent smile was plastered on his face. All worry had been washed away, he hadn’t felt like this since the day Kirby had defeated Nightmare, and things could only go up from here.
What an unexpected way the night had gone, but he wouldn’t have had it any other way. Meta Knight didn’t pry his golden eyes away from Kirby’s slumbering form, not until his body took the reins and finally decided it was time to put him down to rest as well. His own eyes now failed to remain open as the exhaustion from how his day went took its toll. A thought was brought into his mind before entirely losing consciousness; Kirby was already asleep, but he felt the need to comfort him, to make a promise to him silently. Before sleep took him, he found himself repeating the same words he had said long, long ago. Almost.
It’s okay my little cub, Papa’s here now, and he’s not going anywhere.